


Last Goodbye, The

by devout2David



Category: The X-Files
Genre: Angst, Gen, Post-Season 9 (X-Files), Virginia (X-Files), Work In Progress
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2003-03-20
Updated: 2003-03-20
Packaged: 2019-04-27 05:47:37
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 17,609
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14418996
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/devout2David/pseuds/devout2David
Summary: Scully struggles with some old memories while Mulder is blissfully unaware. But by the time he realizes it, it's too late. Has he lost the most important thing to him in all the world forever?





	1. Last Goodbye, The

**Author's Note:**

> Note from alice ttlg, the archivist: this story was originally archived at [Spooky Awards](http://fanlore.org/wiki/Spooky_Awards), and was moved to the AO3 as part of the Open Doors project in 2018. I tried to reach out to all creators about the move and posted announcements, but may not have reached everyone. If you are the creator and would like to claim this work, please contact me using the e-mail address on [SpookyAwards' collection profile](http://archiveofourown.org/collections/spookyawards/profile).

 

LAST GOODBYE, The

## LAST GOODBYE, The

### by devout2David

**TITLE: THE LAST GOODBYE - PART THREE**

AUTHOR: devout2David 

**RATING: PG-13**

CLASSIFICATION: Scully angst. Mulder angst. Angst all the way around! 

DISCLAIMER: HEAR YE! HEAR YE! HEAR YE! I wish to formally announce 
    
    
                 that the X-Files characters (all of them!) do NOT belong 
                 to me and that I am just BORROWING them for the sake of 
                 a good story!  I am NOT making one penny off of these fan
                 fiction stories in ANY way,shape or form!  It is purely 
                 for FUN!  (You DO remember FUN, don't you?)  If you 
                 attempt to sue me, you won't get much in the way of money
                 since I haven't got any! So don't bother wasting your time.
    

SPOILERS: None, as we all know what happened in the Season 8 Finale 

anyway,right??? So there isn't anything to worry about. 

KEYWORDS: Aside from Mulder and Scully's names? Can't think of anything 
    
    
               off hand.  Although I do mention Skinner and the Lonegunmen 
               here and there as well as Scully's pregnancy.  Nothing left 
               after that.
    

SUMMARY: Basically Scully and Mulder coming to grips with Scully's 
    
    
              leaving the FBI and how they handle it.  There's a little romance
              in there for good measure. What the romance is, well, you'll 
              just have to read it and find that out for yourself.  
    

AUTHOR'S NOTES: You know, I wanted to try and wrap this up without dragging 
    
    
                     it out too much, but a friend of mine suggested that I 
                     write more I wanted this to be a simple little angst story 
                     but it isn't turning out that way.  Hopefully ya'll didn't 
                     mind.  It sucks when stories have to come to an end.  
                     Especially at a crucial moment in the telling of it.  
                     But I hope you enjoyed this anyhow.
    

ARCHIVE: I don't mind at all! In fact, I'll feel honored by it. Just let 

me know where it will be so I can visit your site! 

* * *

J. Edgar Hoover Building  
Basement level  
11:15 am 

Mulder drummed his fingers impatiently on top of his desk as he stared at the telephone; trying to will it into ringing. He had grown increasingly frustrated as each day passed and the feeling of helplessness had come to that point of intolerability where he was sick to death of it all. `This is worse than any case I've ever worked on!' he fumed to himself, "Shit, I'll take on Flukeman, Eugene Tooms AND Cigarette-Smoking Man any day over this!' He was worried and had gotten nowhere fast with his usual avenues of information retrieval. 

It seemed to him as if Scully had disappeared completely off the face of the earth. Her cell phone had been of no use to him at all. He had tried that several times already. He knew she had it with her because when he had stayed at her apartment the day she'd left, he hadn't seen it lying around anywhere. Nor had he seen her phone's charger plugged into its usual spot right beside her front door on the little IKEA table. That's why he was so sure she had them in her possession. 

Her phone; like some mechanic appendage, went with her everywhere and not taking it would have been a truly unusual thing for her to do. 

She forgot to charge it, he surmised, That's why I can't get through. 

Or maybe she was keeping it turned off completely on purpose figuring that he might try to call her once he had discovered she was gone. She was making it pretty obvious that she didn't want to speak to him and that fact was eating him up inside. He couldn't understand that at all. 

He had always been under the impression that they could tell each other anything. When something was bothering her, he felt he could just automatically sense it in her. But for some reason; this time around, Mulder just had not seen this coming. Her snap decision to leave had struck him like a freight train and his mind still reeled over the news that she had actually been pregnant! Not to mention the fact that she'd lost the baby at birth and had gone through it all alone. 

Had the child actually been his? He wondered. Had it been a boy or a girl? He wanted to know. It was just too incredible for him to believe. 

HIS loyal and trusted partner. 

Dana Katherine Scully. 

Pregnant. 

With his baby? 

Was it possible? he thought, and shook his head. The mental image that formed in his mind of her small frame swollen with child continued beyond to where he saw her in his mind's eye in labor; alone and without him there beside her. His heart began to ache all over again as he remembered his conversations with Skinner and the Lone Gunmen. Skinner had implied, in not so many words, that Mulder was the most cold-hearted, uncaring, self-centered son-of-a-bitch that ever was, but Mulder knew in his heart that wasn't the case at all. 

Or was it? 

He had never thought of himself to be cold-hearted or uncaring towards anyone; except for maybe Krycek or the Cigarette-Smoking Man, but never Scully! He always thought of her safety and well-being first......hadn't he? 

Hadn't he always tried to look out for her safety when they were on a case? Wasn't he the one who came to her rescue when Donny Pfaster was about to turn her into his own version of a sick sexual fantasy? Wasn't he the one who had searched for her tirelessly; never giving up on her, when she was abducted the first time around? Wasn't he the one who saved her from being turned into the aliens' version of a breeding popsicle back in Antarctica when she was stolen away from him for the second time? Hadn't he been the one to hold her as she cried during her bout with cancer, the deaths of her father, her sister, Melissa, and her daughter, Emily? Wasn't he the one who could make her smile with one of his lame jokes? 

Mulder sighed, tiredly rubbing his hand over his face. 

Mulder had managed to get the receipt from the Lone Gunmen showing Scully had refueled her car on the day she left at a gas station just outside of Georgetown. But unfortunately that had been the only lead he'd had received as of late to finding her. It just seemed that she was being overly elusive in her quest to `disappear' or whatever it was she thought she was doing. Time away to think? He thought. More like she's running away from everything. 

The daily calls he had made to her mother had been unproductive. Mrs. Scully had been so patient in telling Mulder over and over again that she really had no idea where her daughter was and claimed to have not spoken to her in almost a month. When she asked Mulder if everything was alright, he had made up some lame excuse about Scully being away on a case and that she wasn't checking in regularly with him or the office, and would Mrs. Scully mind calling him please; anytime, day or night, if she ever heard anything from her wayward daughter? Mrs. Scully had promised him she would do just that. But, of course, no phone call ever came. 

Mulder had given up after that conversation, but he still had a gut feeling that her mother had indeed known where she was but that Scully had given her mother strict instructions not to tell Mulder anything in case he called her asking questions. `You know me all too well, Scully,' he thought, miserably to himself. 

Even if Maggie Scully truly didn't know where her daughter was, he had tried to keep his voice light and cheerful when he spoke to her over the phone to ensure he wasn't mistakenly getting her worried over nothing. The last thing he wanted to do was to unwittingly upset Scully's mother if there really wasn't anything to actually be upset about. Scully was a big girl, after all, and she could handle herself very well in any given situation. Mulder, of all people, knew that firsthand. `And I have the scars to prove it,' he chuckled to himself. 

But Skinner, however, had been a dead end from the start. Mulder had tried in vain a few times to casually ask the newly appointed Director of the Bureau about his knowledge of Scully's possible locale. But when he did, Mulder had received a stern reprimand the first time he'd asked and nothing but cold, hard looks of disdain and contempt thereafter. Mulder gave up after about the fourth day when Skinner had thundered to him, "Give it a rest, Agent Mulder! That's an order!" It was obvious Scully had sworn Skinner to utter secrecy too. 

Mulder had also quickly withdrawn his request for an APB to be put on Scully after Skinner had found out what he had done which made Skinner chew his ass out even more. Mulder had skulked out of the Director's office like a puppy with its tail between its legs after a particularly sharp smack on the bottom with a newspaper. What made the reprimand even worse was when he had caught a quick glimpse of the Director's secretary, Kim, with a barely contained smirk on her glossed lips, as she tried to pretend that she hadn't heard their conversation. But it was obvious that she had heard every single word of Skinner's booming voice over the sound of her typing and eavesdropped on it all. 

`Bitch,' Mulder thought to himself as he had passed her desk. `She must think me the biggest loser.' 

Now, here he sat, some days later, tapping on the top of his desk with the pencil that he had absentmindedly picked up. Quietly he was thinking to himself how he wished to be doing something else other than wondering about what was left for him to try now. 

He had hoped that the Lone Gunmen would've come up with something much more concrete than just the credit card receipt for the gas Scully had bought. There had to be something else SOMEWHERE! But where? 

What am I missing? 

Tap, tap, tap went the pencil. 

Where could she possibly go? 

Tap, tap, tap. 

Could she be with anyone else or was she alone? 

"C'mon, Scully! Call me! Something! ANYthing! Just give me a sign so I know that you're okay!" he bemoaned to himself miserably. He jumped up from his desk chair, kicking it backwards against the wall with a bang, and started to pace around the office. 

He couldn't stand it. This feeling of helplessness washing over him like a tsunami wave was not doing him any good. But then neither was going over the same questions time and time again in his head. But what else was he supposed to do? He had worried about her consistently since the day she'd left, even when he sometimes wasn't aware he was actually doing it. 

He had hardly slept at all since that day and his lack of sleep had been so bad that he couldn't even concentrate on the stack of untouched files sprawled all over the top of his desk like so much chaos. He had managed to pass off the majority of the cases to the four new recruits that had joined their department a week or so before and each of the new agents had pounced on the files like hungry dogs on rare beef. 

But Mulder didn't care one way or the other at this point about the workload. It could rot as far as he was concerned. He only cared about finding Scully safe and sound. 

If she had been there at that very moment to see him pacing around the room, he knew she would have chasten him to no end for it. He didn't care. He would've given anything to have her there scolding him, giving him that all too familiar look of hers. It was the look where she cocked her head to the side and would raise one perfectly formed eyebrow at him. Sometimes she would stand there with her hands on her hips or simply throw him that look from across the room. She would do it while they were on a case standing in the midst of a muddy field somewhere or sitting in some outback diner. It was that look Mulder loved to see her give him. She had perfected it so well over the years of working together that now it secretly turned him on each time she did it.. 

Suddenly the phone rang, jarring his thoughts. He practically dove across the desk to answer it but succeeded only in knocking his coffee cup to the floor. The dark liquid quickly puddled all over the desk and dribbled down the side to the floor's tile. He fumbled with the receiver, trying to get it to his ear and shouted into it as he did. 

"Mulder!" he said as he reached for something to mop up the mess he'd made. Finding nothing substantial, he grabbed for a yellow legal pad and started to tear off pages. 

"Hey! It's me," a voice on the other end answered. 

"Scully?" he said, absentmindedly; not really paying attention to the sound of the caller's voice. 

"Now, do I sound anything remotely close to Agent Scully?" Frohike groused to him over the phone. Mulder chuckled. 

"Ah, Frohike, sorry. How could I possibly mistake you for Scully." Mulder quipped back as he continued to blot up the spilt coffee. 

"Thanks a lot, pal." Frohike harrumphed into the phone. 

Mulder guffawed slightly under his breath. "Is there a specific reason for this telephone conversation or are you just checking to see if I've requisitioned the Green Berets yet?" Mulder said, a slight hint of irritation in voice. "I'm kind of busy here, Frohike, this better be important." 

"As a matter of fact, it IS important." Frohike said, slyly. "I'm calling to tell you that I think we may have tracked Dana down. Or, at the very least, found a possible vicinity of where she might be." 

"About time! Geezuz, I thought you were much more adept at obtaining such vital information than this. Are you boys losing your touch or what?" Mulder countered at him. 

"Hey!" Frohike said tersely, ignoring the remark. "C'mon! You what to know what we found or what?" 

"Okay, okay...I'm sorry. " Mulder feigned surrender as he tossed wet pages of legal paper into the trashcan. "What did you find out?" 

"Do you know anything about the Scully family having a summer cottage somewhere down around the Virginia Beach area?" Frohike asked, with a slight teasing lilt to his voice. 

"No. But then Scully never mentioned anything like that to me about her family activities. Why?" 

"Because I think her family's got a summer place somewhere in that general area." Frohike explained a bit triumphantly. 

"Really?" Mulder forgot the mess he was unsuccessfully trying to clean up and sat down at perfect ramrod attention in his chair. "Where?" 

"Oh, somewhere near the coastline," Frohike teased again, "Sort of Gidget-land, you might say." 

"How do you know?" Mulder asked warily. 

"Because we discovered a bar tab paid by credit card by one `Dana K. Scully' at a place called MOLLY'S right on the boardwalk a couple of nights back. There were two dinner entries and a bunch of drinks charged to the card...." Frohike started to explain to him. 

Mulder's heart suddenly did a nose-dive straight into the pit of his stomach. "Two dinners?" he mumbled. 

"Yeah, two." Frohike said hopefully, but added quickly, "But that doesn't mean anything though." When he didn't get a reply from Mulder. "At least it's a place to start! Christ, Mulder, stop being so fucking negative because if you don't want to check it out, I could just delete this...," Frohike threatened. 

"No, no, that's okay. I'm sorry, I'm just....thinking," Mulder stopped him short with a sigh into the phone. "I just want to find her, y'know? I need to find her." 

"I know you do, pal," Frohike answered him back sympathetically. 

"Can you get me an exact location of the restaurant?" Mulder asked, trying not to sound too disheartened. 

"Working' on it as we speak. Langley will e-mail it to you in a couple of minutes, okay?" Frohike told him, then lowered his voice and said. "He's sort of in the middle of something right now, if you know what I mean?" 

"Anybody I know?" Mulder chuckled back Frohike snickered back at the remark. 

"You can make it 5 minutes," Mulder said, "I'll give you my entire porn video collection." 

"Oh, hey!" Frohike, as happy as a kid at Christmas, said, "You got it, pal!" and hung up. 

Mulder relaxed backwards into his chair, letting out a huge sigh of relief, grateful for the small piece of information that was coming his way. He just wished it had come to him sooner; like maybe the same day she had left? But beggars couldn't be choosers. 

He stretched his arms up then folded them behind his head. Staring up towards the ceiling at what was left of his pencil stalactites, he thought back to the last time Scully had left him behind. Well, she hadn't actually left him that time. All she had actually done was attempt to squeeze in some vacation time in between cases. Nothing wrong in doing that. 

And her abductions didn't count either. That had been altogether very different. Unlike now where she had actually resigned from the job, leaving him in the lurch without any notice or reasons why she had left. After all the years of threatening to leave; which had usually been just bullshit talk after a huge blow-up of some sort, she had mentioned quitting both before and after her bout with her cancer. But had it actually been because of the loss of her baby this time? Had she really suffered as much as everyone said? It seemed to be so. 

He didn't know or understand all the emotional complexities that a woman went through while pregnant since he had never had the opportunity to be around too many women in that particular condition. But he assumed it must have been very traumatic for Scully to lose the life that she had carried, especially when he knew how much having a child had meant to her. Children and a married life had been her dream, but it had seemed so far out of reach for them both due to their line of work. 

The news about being barren when she was told had broken her heart, and his, in more ways than one. But she had masked the pain well. So well, in fact, that Mulder had never suspected a thing and never would he have guessed she'd suffered so dearly for it afterwards. Mulder shook his head again in disbelief. 

Remembering back to that exact moment when Skinner had told him that she had gone, his heart tightened in his chest as he recalled Skinner's words to him that Scully was in love with him and that Mulder was blind to that love. He frowned. 

`Okay, so, she loves me. But what does that mean? To her? Or for us?' he thought, very confused. `Does that mean that she wants more of a romantic relationship with me? 

He knew he wasn't exactly the best candidate in the long-term relationship department but he was more than willing to give it the old college try for her sake. He pondered this until the phone rang. He jumped at the interruption and fumbled for the receiver again. 

"Mulder? Hey! I got you the information! Check your e-mail." Frohike said. 

"Frohike, I love you, man!" Mulder said gleefully as he saw the YOU HAVE NEW MAIL on the front of his computer screen. 

"Well, that's...uh...always nice to hear, but...ah, sorry, buddy. I just don't swing that way," Frohike said, then added. "You might want to try Byers though." 

Mulder heard a barely audible voice on the other end of the phone mumbling their displeasure at the remark. Mulder laughed as he opened up his e-mail. He quickly printed it out. His hands were shaking slightly as he picked up the printout to read it more closely. 

"So, uh, when do I get my videos?" Frohike asked hesitantly, trying to keep from sounding overly anxious. 

Mulder could envision him at the other end of the phone wringing his hands and the image of a hamster turning the wheel of Frohike's dirty little mind. Mulder smiled at the proverbial rodent turning away and the little toad of a man scheming his plans to blackmail his fellow cohorts into paying Frohike rent for video usage on any given Saturday night. Pizza, beer, some good cigars; a Frat boy's dream come true! Mulder snickered to himself. 

"When I've found her safe and sound, you'll get them and not before," Mulder quipped and quickly hung up before Frohike could protest further. 

Mulder stared down at the paper in his trembling hand and thought of how to make his next move. Should he leave now, just show up and surprise her? Or should he try calling first to let her know he was on his way. What if he waited and just started out tomorrow morning? The information definitely pointed to the Virginia Beach area but he wasn't sure exactly where or in what part of the town it was. 

He walked over to one of the office's file cabinets and pulled out a stack of road maps from one of the drawers. Flipping through the pile, he then selected a State map of Virginia. He used his index finger to follow the one major Interstate closest to his apartment and traced the colored line all the way to his intended destination. Poking at the spot on the map in satisfaction, Mulder smiled then frowned suddenly as he discovered just how big the area truly was. He was going to have a lot of ground to cover. But determined as he was to get on with it, he now knew what he had to do. 

"That's it. That's where she is." he mumbled. 

Mulder folded the map up neatly, grabbed his suit jacket and rushed out of the office. He had to get home and pack some things. He didn't know what he would say once he saw Scully but he knew it would come to him eventually. He just had to see her face to face. All Mulder had to do was look into those piercing blue eyes of hers and the words would come to him automatically. Or so he hoped. As he left, he took the stairs two at a time until he reached the parking deck. Jogging towards his car, he fished into his pocket for his car keys and jumped inside. 

Mulder barely remembered taking the turn into his apartment building's parking lot minutes later but he knew somehow he had reached home a lot quicker than he normally did. But once inside his apartment, he strode straight to the bedroom and flung the suit jacket, his tie and dress shirt to the floor. He had to change into something a bit more comfortable for this particular venture. This wasn't business. This was more of a road trip with a twist. T-shirt and jeans were more in order for this particular venture than his usual FBI agent attire. Since he didn't want to unwittingly cast himself into that role just to find his missing partner. Drawing attention to himself would not be a good idea. What if he was recognized and they warned her that he was looking for her? He couldn't risk her disappearing on him again. Not that anyone would actually know him in such a large coastal community, but why take a chance? It would be just his incredible bad luck to run into some member of the Scully clan. 

He grabbed his black gym bag from the floor of the closet and started throwing clothes and `what-not' into it. He grabbed the stick of deodorant off the dresser and the bottle of his favorite cologne. Absent-mindedly he grabbed his college ring off THE bureau too. Why he did that, he didn't quite know but something told him it was the thing to do. He almost forgot his toothbrush but remembered just as he was about to walk out the door. He grabbed it off the bathroom sink's counter top. As he hurried out the door, he remembered his cell-phone's charger, grabbed it then he exited the apartment. 

As the front door slammed with a loud bang, Mulder heard his apartment's phone ringing. He contemplated going back to answer it but then thought the better of it. What if it was Skinner trying to call him? Mulder didn't want to take the chance on his boss finding out what he was about to do. He sprinted towards his car as fast as he could. 

* * *

Dana Scully let the telephone ring at least eight times, hoping against hope that Mulder was home and would eventually pick up. She glanced over to her friend, Michaela, who motioned her impatiently to hang up. Scully held up an index finger to signal to her friend to give her just one moment; just one more ring. 

By the beginning of the twelfth ring, Scully hung up the receiver and sighed heavily. "He's not there," she said, in disappointment. 

Michaela shrugged at her nonchalantly. "Did you really expect him to be?" she snorted sarcastically with a flip of her hair. 

"Well, I guess...I don't know...maybe," Scully murmured as she reached to dial the phone again. "Just let me try his cell phone..." 

Michaela reached out and stilled Scully's outstretched hand. "Look, Dana, you have to stop this," she said sternly. 

Scully turned away from her, not wanting to listen to this same speech again. She had heard this song and dance routine for the past couple of days now and was quickly tiring of Michaela's condescending tone. Whenever Scully had mentioned Mulder's name or her work with the bureau, Michaela always adopted a "holier-than-thou" attitude which Scully was growing tired of. She knew Michaela hadn't cared for Mulder before all this, but now it seemed as though Michaela was condemning him before she had even really met him. Scully had tried to downplay the bad parts of her relationship with him which she had originally confessed to Michaela about. But she knew Michaela had already formed her own opinion from their conversations over the past couple of days. 

Michaela meant well, but now her sarcastic comments and advice were grating on Scully's last raw nerve. She had only confided in her friend because she thought Michaela would understand and Scully had needed a sympathetic ear. But now here Scully was regretting having invited her friend to the beachfront cottage. 

Scully shook her head and cut her eyes upward. How could Michaela even begin to fathom all that she and Mulder had suffered through and experienced over the years? No one could ever truly understand the amount of trauma, stress and emotion that they had shared. The loss of their beloved family members, the tears of pain shed, the physical and emotional stress of never knowing if they would ever live to see the light of day while on a dangerous investigation was more than any other average person would have suffered or experienced. 

But it served Scully right, in the end, for involving Michaela in her personal problems. Michaela was Scully's oldest and dearest friend and had always been very good at pointing that out to her. Perhaps too good with that pointing part! But Michaela knew Scully was becoming too overly analytical about everything for all the wrong reasons. She knew Scully had to try and stay focused on what her next move should be. Of course, that was easier said than done and at this moment Scully wasn't even sure what the right move actually was. 

But all in all, Michaela's visit had been a joy to her, up until now. Especially their evening out on the first night she had arrived. The rest of the time they had stayed close to the cottage, sunbathing, laying around the beach; taking walks and simply talking about everything like schoolgirls. Michaela had been so patient, at first, listening to Scully pouring out her heart over her feelings for Mulder, her job at the bureau, her life and lack thereof. But Michaela became suddenly frustrated with her around the middle of the week whenever she brought up the subject that she might very well be in love with Mulder and maybe it had been a mistake leaving her job. 

Michaela had tried talking her out of following whatever guilt-ridden path she thought she was on and Scully had relented...at first. But now here she was seriously considering following her heart; calling Mulder and try to explain everything to him. He had to know one way or the other anyway so why put it off any longer? It was, after all, important to tell him what happened with the baby because she owed him at least that much. 

Deep down, Scully knew she was wrong to run away the way she had. Hiding here on this lonesome beach wasn't helping her face things. If anything it was making things progressively worse for all involved. Michaela had said a week wasn't long enough to come to such an important conclusion to any of this and that Scully needed to take more time to think things over. But Scully realized that the more time she took to think would just never be enough to resolve the conflicts boiling within her. She had reached a sort of crossroads where the only recourse was to talk to Mulder; face to face, and the more Scully thought about it, the more confused and beleaguered she became. When she had first mentioned to Michaela her intention to confront Mulder, her friend had bristled in anger. Scully knew she would not change her mind and had firmly decided to just do it. Scully's Irish stubbornness had kicked in and there was no turning back. It was chiseled in stone now, as Grandmother Scully used to say. 

"You were the one who told me to talk to him in the first place or don't you recall saying that?" Scully had reminded her friend of her own advice. 

"Fine. Whatever," Michaela spat out, disgusted with her and throwing her hands up in defeat. "I'm done trying to convince you that you're making a mistake. You are certifiably nuts, Dana, do you know that? But however you want to handle this, is your decision and your decision alone. But I think you're so incredibly wrong." Michaela shuddered, trying to shake off the invisible tension she was feeling and continued on, "Whatever," she said as she turned sharply on her heel to leave the room. Just remember that you're the one who has to live this life of soap opera bullshit." With that Michaela stomped up the stairs to her room, slamming the bedroom door so hard that it rattled the windows of the house. She thumped around upstairs before all settled down. Scully went to the kitchen to get something to drink. She was angry a little with Michaela just as much as Michaela was angry with her. She hated being treated like a stupid child. 

A short while later, Michaela came stomping down the steps again and stopped in the doorway of the kitchen. Her eyes were still flamed in anger. "If you call him yourself and invite him here, I'm leaving, " she declared, "But if he shows up of his own accord, I'll stay and be supportive." There was a slight pout on her lips as she spoke. "Deal?" 

Scully could see her out of the corner of her eye with arms folded sternly across her chest. She didn't turn to face her, she just nodded her head slightly to acknowledge she had heard Michaela speaking. "Fine," she mumbled. Michaela nodded back at her affirmatively then stomped back upstairs again, slamming the bedroom door with another loud bang. Scully sighed. Secretly she had hoped to herself that she was doing the right thing in waiting for Mulder to locate her and somehow she knew that he would find her. 

But now, she thought, maybe he wasn't ready to face her. The way she had left without a bye or leave to him, maybe he was angry with her. Then again, with the mood between her and Michaela so tense, it would not be a good time for him to suddenly show up at that particular moment anyhow. There was no telling what Michaela might do or say to him if he came through the door. Scully wasn't as worried about Michaela's actions as much as her own. She didn't want to break down in front of him to be that pitiful, weepy female who cries at the drop of a hat. That just wasn't who she was. She was stronger than that. 

She moved into the living room and flopped down on the couch. She was suddenly physically exhausted and emotionally drained to the point of boredom. She flipped absent-mindedly through the pile of magazines on the coffee table before frustration overtook her. She jumped up quickly and decided to take a walk to release some of the tension pent up in her body. The salt air and pounding surf always managed to soothe her and she needed serious soothing. 

As she left the house, skipping down the steps of the large deck, she happened to glance up towards Michaela's bedroom window. Scully could see her pacing back and forth while talking on her cell phone. She shrugged as she turned away and headed out onto the beach for her walk. 

* * *

Mulder was incredulous as he struggled to change the flat tire that had brought his journey to a somewhat screeching halt. He had barely made it beyond Alexandria's city limits when the front tire of his car had blown. After spending ten minutes sitting in the car swearing to himself and pounding on the steering wheel, he finally calmed down enough to get out and change it. 

The 5 o'clock commuters from hell whizzed by him with some of them occasionally honking an angry car horn about once every few minutes or so. One or two drivers shouted out their windows at him. Mulder gave up flipping them off after awhile since it was simply a waste of time. Never had he thought his luck so bad as he did at that very moment. Silently he prayed to himself that nothing else would go wrong after this. 

With the tire finally changed, Mulder quickly climbed back into his car and started off once again towards the eastern seaboard. He was not in the mood now for anymore delays or other such nonsense. He just wanted to find a nice, quiet motel as quickly possible and get settled in before he started his search for Scully 

It wasn't until around 6:30 pm when Mulder finally pulled into a small seaside motel parking lot just a few miles north of the beach. He hoped to find a single room for the night since he was now too tired to drive anymore. Plus, hearing his stomach growl for the hundredth time several miles ago hadn't helped matters. 

He went to the motel's office, paid for the room with his credit card then took his bag from the car. Once inside the room, it only took him a few moments to unpack all that he had brought with him and put everything neatly away. After that simplistic task was done, he sat on the corner of the bed, and with road map in hand, began to study the areas leading to the beach. This was not going to be as easy as he had originally thought. Somehow, though, he had managed to narrow it down to at least a ten mile stretch of beachfront to start with, just far enough away from the restaurant where Scully had used her credit card several evenings before since he didn't think she would drive too far out of the way for a meal. No matter how good the food was. 

He decided that starting to look for her now would be fruitless since the sun would be down in well over an hour or so. The stars would be playing around in the sky after the first rays of twilight had disappeared. He decided it would just be better to grab a quick bite to eat, get a good night's rest then set out bright and early the next morning. His stomach growled again in agreement at his thought of finally getting something to eat. 

Without warning, a sudden image of Scully's beautiful face appeared and drifted into his thoughts. Her crystalline blue eyes seemed to stare ethereally at him; passion was burning in their depths. Her red lips were lusciously parted and they beckoned him to kiss them. Her fiery tresses, like silken auburn strands, floated upon an imaginary wind in the dreamscape of his mind. 

He reached out to touch her until a sudden flash of reality snapped him back. Her image quickly melted away but not before he discovered that he was aroused from the mental apparition. His face flushed a deep crimson as he jumped off the bed and attempted to regain some sort of composure. 

`God, the effect you have on me, Scully!' he groaned inwardly to himself. As a distraction from her image, he quickly set about making a list of tomorrow's planned activities. He wanted to jot down everything so he wouldn't waste any time in the morning trying to gather things together. 

He didn't want to have to bother asking for directions either from any of the locals for fear that, if they knew Scully, they might alert her to his presence. He didn't want to risk her disappearing again and then having to search for her anew. He didn't have much in the way of money to bribe anyone for information anyway. Having pawned off his precious collection of porn videos to Frohike, didn't leave anything else of value to bargain with. 

But one thing was for certain, he was bound and determined to find her. One way or another; come hell or high water and hopefully, with a bit of luck, before the end of tomorrow afternoon? That would be good enough for him. 

With the information he had already on hand, he figured it shouldn't take him long. He was optimistic that he would be having dinner with her in the restaurant he and she had both been to: MOLLIE'S. Or maybe the next night? Either way, he was confident he'd find her within the next day or two. "How hard could it be?" he thought optimistically. 

His stomach growled reminding him yet again that he still hadn't had anything to eat. He tossed the road map aside on the bed and left the motel room in search for a fast food restaurant or some nice diner. `Best thing to do is follow my nose,' he thought as he wandered along the sidewalk and down the thoroughfare of the town. 

It was like any other seaside town. It had its local sights and smells, some year-round residents and the usual amount of tourists. The few locals who were on the street at that time of night, only glanced at him curiously and kept walking. Mulder stopped beside two elderly men sitting on a park bench outside a storefront and asked them where the closest restaurant was. 

One man jabbed his thumb to the left and pointed down the street. "About three blocks down you'll find MOLLIE'S restaurant," he said, in a rough voice. Mulder's heart did somersaults inside his chest. 

"Did you say MOLLIE'S?" he asked, barely containing his excitement. The other man nodded affirmatively. 

"Best clam chowder this side of the Chesapeake," he said, proudly, puffing out his chest with pride. "You won't find better food for at least twenty miles." 

"Thank you very much!" Mulder said and headed down the block. He couldn't believe it! The exact same restaurant where Scully had been to was just three blocks away? What incredible luck! It didn't take long at all for him to get there. 

From the outside, the restaurant looked like a rundown shack with clapboards of peeling paint, a weather-worn sign and assorted sea-faring memorabilia strewn along either side of the front door. But when Mulder stepped inside, he found the place cozy and warm with polished oak tables, comfortable captain's chairs and a huge long bar made out of solid cherry that ran almost the complete length of the main dining room. He could see a large game room with a pool table and a video arcade off to his right. 

A petite blonde waitress came up to him and lead him to a corner table. A few of the patrons eyed him suspiciously as he passed by. Two continued to stare after him as he sat down. The waitress asked for his drink order than sashayed away to the bar. Mulder glanced around at the restaurant once more, gave a curt nod to the two patrons who continued to eye-ball him, then picked up the menu and thought of what he should eat. He wondered what Scully had had to eat the night she had been here and wished he could have the same thing. When the waitress brought him his drink and asked if he was ready to order, Mulder glanced up at her. 

"Um, before I order anything, can I ask you something?" Mulder said, quietly. 

"Sure, you can ask me anything, honey," she said with a dazzling smile as she flirted with him unabashedly. Mulder blushed, laughing nervously down into his open menu. 

"Thanks...uhm, about five nights or so ago, did you happen to, uh, see a petite little redhead in here by any chance?" Mulder asked, suddenly feeling like a schoolboy just then. 

"Oh, sorry, but I didn't work here five nights ago. I had the night off. But Karen might know. She was scheduled to work that night," she said, a hint of disappointment in her voice. She called over to the bartender. "Hey, Frank! Is Karen in yet?" 

A burly man in a wrinkled white shirt came to the end of the bar. "No. She ain't come in yet." he complained, "She'd better hurry up `fore those Frat boys come back again tonight!" 

He turned to look at Mulder and said, "She's the only one that can handle the lot of `em. Can't stand those rich college boys comin' in here all snotty and high-strung. Makes me want to..." He continued to mumble as he disappeared into the kitchen for a moment and then came back. 

"Well, maybe you might know then..." Mulder started to say before the waitress interrupted him. 

"Frank, he's looking for a little redheaded girl that may have come in here five nights ago. Did you see anyone in here like that?" she continued with the man. 

"It was pretty busy that night," the bartender said, scratching his chin thoughtfully then said, "I might have seen her, but Karen is really the one to ask as she worked the floor that night, so, you'll just have to talk to her." 

"Where can I find her?" Mulder asked him politely, trying not to sound too hopeful. 

The waitress answered. "Well, she should be in at any time. She had to run home quick and change clothes. She worked the lunch shift but she also works our night shift. She'll be back in here soon though." 

The waitress smiled down at Mulder. "Why not order something while you're waitin' for her to come back. Knowing Karen, there's no tellin' how long she'll take puttin' on her clothes. Especially if Danny gets a hold of her!" she giggled devilishly. 

"Why do you say that?" Mulder asked innocently. 

The girl burst out into girlish giggles. "Oh, honey! Don't you know what happens to two people when they're in love and can't keep their hands off each other?" 

"Ohhh!" Mulder answered slowly as he felt his face get warm again. The color on his embarrassed cheeks just made the waitress endear him to her heart. 

"So, let me ask you. Why are you lookin' for this little girl anyway? Is she your wife or something?" she asked rather coyly. 

"Uhm, not quite." Mulder said, hopeful. But maybe after I find her she could be. "She's my...friend." The waitress smiled knowingly and walked away to give Mulder's food order to cook. 

Mulder sipped slowly on his drink and glanced out the window. He hoped that this Karen person could tell him if Scully had been here or not. He was pinning all his expectations now on this one person having seen her here, in this restaurant and possibly with someone. Maybe another male someone. A fact that he didn't want to even think about. He didn't like the thought of Scully with someone else; especially another male someone else! 

Then it suddenly dawned on him that he was actually jealous! He was jealous of the possibility of Scully actually having another man in her life other than himself. The thought of having left her job for this other man, or the possibility of having another life outside of work with this other man and the possibility of wanting to marry him and have his kids and...grow old with him and...have a house together and...and... 

Mulder's head hurt from all those "possible" scenarios. 

`But she loves ME,' he thought to himself, 'Skinner told me. And so did Frohike, Langley and Byers. They wouldn't have lied about something like that.' 

Why not? A voice in his subconscious said. Why wouldn't they? 

`Because that's not the kind of friends I have or know,' his thought answered back to that annoying voice. 

What do you really know about them or even HER, Mulder? The voice continued. Yeah, sure, she's been your TRUSTED partner for all these years, but have you ever known her to just up and walk away from the job like this? Has she ever mentioned anything about another man in her life? Has she ever talked to you openly about her feelings for you? 

`No,' Mulder thought back. 

Well, then, the voice said with a sarcastic undertone. There you go! 

Mulder stared out the restaurant's window suddenly upset. This was just too much to take. 

`Well, what should I do? Just go home and not even bother to try and find her at all?' Mulder asked himself. 

Sure! Why not? She didn't exactly seek you out to say good-bye now, did she? The voice said. 

`No, I guess she didn't, but...I can't do that,' Mulder resigned to himself. 

But why? The girl ditched you for a new scene, brother! She cast you out like a pair of old holey socks! You have been replaced! Face it, pal, and move on! She did! You still have the X-Files AND that juicy promo waiting for you back in D.C.! 

`But it's not the same without HER there!' Mulder confessed, miserably. 

Tough! Get over it! Move on! She has! The voice in his subconscious fumed. 

Mulder cringed. He couldn't just GET OVER it. This was SCULLY for crying out loud! He NEEDED her! He needed everything about her. He couldn't just leave everything like this without seeing her and talking to her. He HAD to find her. It wasn't over until he decided it was over. 

Suddenly the waitress came over, breaking his train of thought. She brought Mulder his order of seafood, fussed over him a few moments and then left him to enjoy his meal. 

Just as Mulder picked up his fork to dig in, the front door suddenly burst wide open and a slim, teenage-looking, raven-haired girl came strolling in. `That must be Karen,' he thought to himself as he chewed his food. 

He watched the girl as she sidled behind the bar and disappeared into the kitchen. She returned a few moments later wearing an apron around her waist and carrying a tray of condiments. Mulder noticed that Karen seemed older than she looked; sort of street-wise and tough. `She probably has to be that way if she waits on college boys,' Mulder determined. 

He continued watching her go about her work routine, noticing how she walked with an air of determination and self-confidence that reminded him so much of Scully. The bartender must have noticed his gaze and whispered a few words to the girl. She glanced in Mulder's direction which made Mulder quickly look back down into his plate of food and pretending not to notice her walking towards him. 

"Frank says you've been waiting to talk with me." She said warily. "Am I in trouble or something?" 

Mulder swallowed the bite of food in his mouth and shook his head at her. He wiped his lips off on his napkin and motioned for her to sit down in the chair across from him. 

"No, no, nothing serious like that. I just wanted to ask you a few questions, if that's alright with you?" He said, trying to calm her rising fears. The girl nodded hesitantly at him and slowly sat down across the table from him. 

"I'm looking for a friend of mine and I have reason to believe that she was in here a few nights ago and that you may have waited on her...." Mulder began. But the girl interrupted him. "Hey, listen, if it has anything to do with your wife or whatever, I don't know nothin'." she said quickly and started to stand up to leave. 

Mulder reached across the table and gently put his hand around her wrist. "Please, it's nothing like that. This person I'm searching for is my partner from the FBI." he said, hoping she wasn't still interested in walking away from him just then. The girl hesitated still but then changed her mind and sat down across from him again. 

She regarded him with a kind of scrutiny that was usually reserved for someone more deserving of such empathy. She sighed and leaned her elbows against the table. "What do you want to know?" she asked, looking him square in the face. 

He pulled a photograph of Scully out of his shirt pocket and handed it to her across the table. "Have you seen her?" he asked, trying not to sound too hopeful. 

The photo was one taken at her mother's house at Christmas a few years ago when Mulder had been invited by Mrs. Scully. It showed Scully as a relaxed, youthful and beautiful young woman. A Dana Scully who had let her guard down for the sake of the holiday and her family for just that one day. It was his favorite and he secretly kept it in his wallet. Actually, it was the only photo of her that he truly had and he treasured it greatly. He didn't know what she would say if she ever saw him with it but he thought she might think him a bit odd for having it. 

Karen studied the picture a little then nodded. "Yeah, she and some other girl were in here a couple of nights ago. Two redheaded girls. The one was really scammin' these frat boys who usually come `round every Friday night or so? She was playin' them at darts and was beating the crap out of them too!" Karen giggled at the memory. 

Mulder frowned slightly at the thought of Scully playing darts with college boys for money. That didn't sound like her. What the hell did she think she was doing? Was she trying to relive some sort of past experience or fulfill one she may have missed? Or was she really into younger guys? Mulder shuddered slightly and continued. 

"This one in the photograph?" he asked, somewhat confused. Karen shook her head. 

"No, no, the other girl. Not this one." she said, pointing to Scully's photo, "This girl she came in with was taller, kind of athletic and her red hair was a darker red. More like an auburn color. Like Irish Setter red?" 

Mulder put the photo back in his pocket with a small silent sigh of relief. He hadn't thought that Scully could be that wild as to drink with a bunch of young early twenty-somethings. It just didn't fit into the picture of who he knew her to be. 

"Why're you looking for her?" Karen said, breaking into his train of thought. 

"Hmm? Oh," Mulder explained, "she's my partner from the FBI and she's gone AWOL on me." The girl regarded him through slightly narrowed eyes. 

"You sure she's not a girlfriend who dumped you and you're trying to get her back?" she asked pointedly. 

"No, that's not...that's not it at all." Mulder stammered at such a direct question. Karen narrowed her eyes even more as she looked at him. 

"No, I think that's what it is. She stomped on your heart, left you and you're trying to find her and convince her to come back with you." she stated knowingly. Mulder's mouth dropped open. 

"Wh-what makes you say that?" he asked her, trying to hide the embarrassment from his face. He could feel the heat already climbing up his neck around his shirt collar. 

"Because you have that look in your eyes. It says you've lost someone very close to you." Karen cocked her head at him. She's more to you than just your partner, isn't she? She's, like, your best friend, right?" 

Mulder blushed and glanced down at his plate of food, steadily growing colder from his neglect. "She's very special to me. But, honestly, I really just need to find her. There are some things we didn't clear up so I need to fix things between us," he admitted, a bit defensively. He didn't know why he suddenly felt the need to confide his personal feelings to this girl but the urge to do so was suddenly just too great. He felt like he needed the release from the stress of not being able to confide in anyone about how he felt about Scully. 

"Yeah, I can relate to that. My boyfriend, Danny, and I always fight and it's because he doesn't like to talk about this kind of emotional stuff. I'm always trying to get him to open up to me and he's always trying to push me away," she said wistfully. "Relationships are just a lot of hard work." 

"Yeah, she tends to do that to me, too." Mulder confessed sadly. "Keep things from me, I mean." 

"Well, hang in there," Karen said, as she stood up to leave. "Stuff like this always manages to work itself out. She'll come around" 

"Wait a minute!" Mulder called to her as she started to turn away. She cocked her head to the side and waited for him to speak. "Any information you can remember though would really help me out," he said, sounding almost desperate now. "Anything at all. No matter how insignificant it might seem to be." She thought for a moment then smiled at him with a Cheshire grin. "You may want to try the beach. She seemed like she was spending some time near the shore working on her tan," she said then walked away to get back to work. 

Mulder thanked her as she left and resumed eating his already cold dinner. He had already figured the shore, but where at the shore? Now he wasn't looking forward to traipsing all up and down the East Coast looking over each and every sand dune for Scully. But at this point, he had already pretty much resigned himself to doing that very thing. 

He sighed and chewed on a cold bite of lobster. This was not going to be easy at all. 

* * *

After a solid week of listening to Michaela gripe to her, Scully finally got up the courage to throw her out. Michaela had definitely overstayed her welcome and was on the verge of losing her life. 

Scully had seriously pondered at one point taking her gun out of its holster and shooting her friend. Not enough to kill her, mind you. Just a small graze across the shoulder or perhaps maybe losing a toe. Nothing too terribly life-threatening. Just something to give her the idea of what a pain in the ass she had truly become. As much as Scully seriously loved her friend, Michaela was truly getting on her last raw nerve. And Scully was, after all, a good shot so the idea of actually being able to pull off such a feat wasn't so far-fetched. She thought back to when she had shot Mulder in the shoulder several years ago. But she wasn't trying to kill him, scare him or shut him up like she was plotting with Michaela. Not that she had been intimidated by Scully's threat but got the message just the same. 

As Michaela was throwing her bags into the back of her jeep, she turned as Scully came down the steps of the deck and spoke to her solemnly, "Whatever happens, Dana, I just hope you can be happy. I still think you're nuts! But I want you to be happy, so, whatever happens, it'll happen for the best. I just hope you know what you're doing." 

"Yeah," Dana said with a sad smile and a slight nod as she walked towards her friend. `Me too.' She thought to herself. They hugged each other briefly before Michaela jumped into the driver's seat of her jeep and slipped on her sunglasses. 

"Well. Good luck. Call me if you need anything, alright?" Michaela said as she gunned the engine. "No matter what time it is. If you don't get me, leave a message on my voice mail, alright?" 

"I will," Scully promised as she waved goodbye to her friend. 

And with that, Michaela was off in a cloud of spinning dust and sand from beneath her tires. She would be long gone before the dust cloud had even begun to settle. In the distance, Scully could hear Michaela's car horn as she headed back towards the city. 

Her visit hadn't been at all bad, really, Scully thought. They had actually HAD a good time; just like when they were kids. An even better one now since they were of legal age and could actually go into the bars instead of hanging around outside them like they used to do. Scully grinned at the thought of how quickly she had gotten the name `Dangerous Dana' back in her late high school and early college days. Michaela had called her that and the name had stuck until her sophomore year of college. That's when she had turned into the serious scholar and responsible adult that she was to become. She had begun to think a lot harder about her future and where she wanted to go and who she wanted to be during that time, much to the relief of her parents; especially her father. The long serious talks her and Ahab had had about her grades, as well as potential private and military schools she would've attended if she hadn't gotten her shit together, had really made her re-evaluate everything she was doing wrong in her life at the time. 

Scully turned back towards the house. It would be time for dinner soon and she hadn't even thought about what she wanted to eat. That's when she suddenly heard a car coming down the long drive again and turned to see if it was Michaela returning to apologize or perhaps because she had forgotten something. 

Scully didn't recognize the car at first when it came into view but when she caught a glimpse of the driver behind the wheel, she froze dead in her tracks with one foot poised to take a step at the bottom of the porch stairs. 

"Oh, shit," she breathed out as her grip on the banister turned the knuckles of her hands white. 

* * *

Mulder had spent a whole week driving around the area looking through every back road, beach shack and oceanfront property he could find in the hopes of locating Scully. He was about to give up one day but something kept telling him to press on. After a disappointing search at the end of each day, he heard that same voice telling him, `Just one more road, Mulder. Just one more house, Mulder.' and he kept on going to the next house and the next road, but still no sign of her. 

He had made a habit of eating at MOLLIE'S restaurant for each of his three meals and each time he was there, either Karen or the other waitress he had met his first day there; Paula was her name he had learned; would wait on him. 

The girls had begun to look after him like they would a stray puppy that comes to beg for food, a warm place to sleep and a little affection besides. They had helped to boost his sagging moral and even made small offers to `take him home' if he couldn't find Scully. 

He had smiled shyly at their offers when they had said things like that to him, but inside he didn't have the heart to refuse their kindnesses and say that he truly wasn't interested. Though it may have seemed he was leading them on, they were being so nice to him, he just figured that it was because they felt sorry for him. He felt pathetic for pouring his heart out to two complete strangers, but they really were willing to listen and they seemed to understand his predicament. They told him over and over that they didn't mind at all. They were sympathetic to his quest and they never looked at him with pity in their eyes. 

On a Wednesday afternoon as Karen came to him with his plate of corned beef on rye, she said, "Have you tried Oceanview Road yet?" 

He shook his head at her. "No, I haven't been on that road yet," he told her as he took a bite of the sandwich. 

"Well, it's sort of a private road, off of one of the secondary highways? You have to then take another smaller county road to get to it. You miss the turn though if you aren't paying attention since it comes up kind of fast." She explained to him as she poured his glass with iced tea. 

Mulder pulled out his map of the area and began to spread it out on the side of the table. He shoved his sandwich to the side and pointed on the map. "Is this it?" he asked her. 

Karen shook her head and pointed slightly to the right of his finger. "No, this is it," she said, tapping the map over to the left of his finger. 

Mulder squinted at the line moving towards the Atlantic. "Really? I have missed that turn off then! I was on that road yesterday and I didn't see the turn at all." He shook his head in disbelief. 

"You'll miss it if you drive by it too fast," she told him. 

"I'll go back there after I'm done with lunch," he said, trying to keep the excitement out of his voice. He wolfed his food done hurriedly so he could go back out the road he had missed. "Thanks! I appreciate it." 

"Well, just make sure you don't miss it this time," she teased with a wink then she walked away from his table. 

* * *

Karen had been right. Mulder had almost missed the turn-off for Oceanview Road again in his haste to locate it. He was so excited at the very prospect of finding Scully that he wasn't paying attention to where he was supposed to go and started to drive right by it. Only a split second of reality made him hit the breaks and back the car up slightly. The road was so shadowed by trees and sat slightly curved so that if you came in the opposite direction you would see it immediately. But from the direction Mulder was traveling he didn't see it until he was almost on top of it. He quickly turned the steering wheel all the way to the right and started down the road. 

It wasn't well-paved at all and the potholes were enough to bounce your insides along and rattle your teeth loose from your jaw. Mulder was wishing now that he was driving a rental car and instead of his own. He would have to send his car to the shop for new shocks and possibly a realignment after this trip. 

Suddenly another vehicle appeared directly in front of him. He swerved quickly to the right to avoid a head-on collision. He whipped his head round just in time to catch a glimpse of the driver and saw a flash of red hair. But he realized quickly that it wasn't Scully as the driver's hair was far too long as well as three shades darker than her bright, fiery tresses. 

`Calm down, Mulder. You're losing it,' he thought to himself and let out the breath he had unknowingly been holding. 

That girl had come from the direction he was driving so he knew now that there had to be houses back here after all. 

The trees thinned out a little until suddenly he was out in the open again. A small white clapboard house with a large wrap-around deck sat off to the left side and he could plainly see the Atlantic and a wide stretch of beach in front of him. It was almost deserted except for the small frame of a female with red hair, standing beside the steps of the deck looking directly at him. As he pulled the car up towards her, Mulder stopped short in the middle of the cul-de-sac a few feet from where she was. There in the short span of distance between the house and his car stood Scully. Her stare went directly into him; a mixed look of confusion and panic, like a deer caught in headlights. 

Mulder took in the fact that her skin had bronzed considerably and that her red hair seemed lighter in the sunshine. Stray wisps of it curved around her chin while some moved against her cheek with the lucidity of brilliant liquid copper. She seemed to be frozen in place. The dress she wore was reminiscent of something from back in the 1940s. It was a simple cotton dress with a flowing skirt. An ocean breeze caught the skirt's fabric and whipped it around her slender legs. This movement from the garment just further enhanced her beauty and made her appear more feminine than he had ever seen her before. He felt a constricting sensation in his chest and his pulse pick up speed as he continued staring at her. 

He turned off the car's ignition and slowly stepped out. He couldn't believe it was actually her here on what seemed to be the most lonesome stretch of beachfront he'd ever been to. 

He was almost afraid to approach her for fear that she would be an apparition and would evaporate. But as he took one hesitant step towards her, he could see her chest rise and fall with each quick breath she took and knew then she was for real. 

He continued to move slowly towards her until they stood mere inches apart from each other. He could see into the depths of her eyes and didn't like what he saw there. 

She had continued to stare directly at him; silent, wide-eyed with disbelief and fear. Her arms were crossed tightly in front of her trying to keep the sweater that she wore closed around her. 

Mulder reached out a hand to gently brush the stray strands of hair from her eyes. He was barely breathing at this point. His hand trembled slightly as it trailed slowly from her face down to her left shoulder blade. She stood as still as Galatea before Pygmalian just moments before the kiss that breathed life into his creation. 

And just as Pygmalion had done, Mulder bent down and pressed his mouth to Scully's softly. 

(Continued in Part 4...) 

WOW!!! Are you intrigued yet? What do you think Scully will do? I hope to have Part four done soon so you'll have to wait and see! 

Feedback ALWAYS welcome!   
  


#### If you enjoyed this story, please send feedback to devout2David


	2. Last Goodbye, The

 

LAST GOODBYE, The - 4

## LAST GOODBYE, The - 4

### by devout2David

TITLE: THE LAST GOODBYE - part 4 

AUTHOR: devout2David 

RATING: R (course language and sexual situations) 

CLASSIFICATION: Scully angst. Mulder angst. Angst all the way around! 

DISCLAIMER: Ohhh! The X-files don't belong to me, do dar, do dar! 
    
    
                              Love to use them for fans and me, oh dee do dar day!
                              CC and Company....
                              Please don't sue me...
                              Not making a cent 
                              So don't get bent (out of shape that is!)
                              The writing's all done for free!
    

SPOILERS: None, as we all know what happened in the Season 8 
    
    
              Finale anyway, right???  So there isn't anything to 
             worry about.
    

KEYWORDS: Aside from Mulder and Scully's names? Not a one. 

Not anymore! 

SUMMARY: How will Mulder and Scully resolve things between them? 

Will it be a happy ending...or won't it? 

AUTHOR'S NOTES: I want to thank everyone who has read and enjoyed 
    
    
                                        The Last Goodbye.  Part one was actually my 
                                        original idea to end the series but because it
                                        left a gap for some I decided (with 
                                        some serious nudging from my Masto-friends) to 
                                        keep it going a little bit more. 
    

ARCHIVE: I don't mind at all! In fact, I'll feel honored by it. 
    
    
                       Just let me know where it will be so I can visit your 
                       site!
    

DEDICATION: This part is dedicated in loving memory of my friend, 
    
    
                               Danny Mc Horney, who took his life on May 15, 2001. 
                               Danny died for love.
    

* * *

At first she resisted; not quite sure of what to do but slowly she warmed to his kiss and leaned into him. He held her tightly against him, feeling the thump of her heart against his chest and the heat of her flesh through his clothes. The tightening he had felt before in his heart had returned once again. 

"Thank God, Scully," he breathed into her hair as he pulled away from her lips. "I finally found you." 

She didn't say a word but continued to hold onto him. 

"Mulder, I...." she began but thought the better of it and silenced herself. She didn't want to ruin this moment of reunion for him. 

His arms wrapped around her felt unwittingly good...but constricted her like an unbreakable band of iron coils squeezing her life away. His unexpected arrival had caught her completely off-guard, and she wasn't prepared to deal with the flood of emotions either of them were feeling right then. Especially his. 

After a few moments he took a step back from her and placed his hands on each side of her lovely face. Looking deep into her eyes he asked the question she had dreaded most: "Why?" It was all he could manage to choke out in a hoarse, emotional whisper. 

As he searched her face with his pain-filled eyes, she shut her own tightly in an attempt to block out his face. She could already feel the tears burning. She grasped his wrists, trying to pull free of his grip. "Mulder, I can't..." she bemoaned to him. 

He released her and walked a few steps away. Facing the water and the endless horizon he stood silently for a while collecting his thoughts before turning back to her once again. 

"Why?" he asked, his voice cracking slightly now as he spoke the words. "Why can't you? Am I so hard to talk to? Do you really think that I'm so...callous that I couldn't even remotely understand what it is you're feeling?" He walked back to her and caught her by her small shoulders. "I DO understand! Will you just TALK to me?" he begged her, giving her shoulders a gentle shake as he spoke. 

"I can't!" she cried, pulling free from his hold on her. 

"Why the hell not?" he demanded as she backed away from him. She looked away, trying to escape his scrutinizing stare. 

"Try me," he pressed gently. 

"No," she said softly with a shake of her head, "Not right now...I'm...not ready to get into this." 

He let out a loud, frustrated groan at her. "Well, I'm sorry, Scully, but I don't buy that." he said to her defiantly. 

"Look, it's just too complicated to get into right now and I can't....I can't think....straight ...I'm just... not ready..." she breathed out in rush. 

"Well, we need to talk about this. I mean, for Chrissakes you just left...without a word to me about what your intentions were and this thing...with the baby and all...we NEED to talk about this." he said and realizing too late how selfish that sounded even to him. 

"Look, you shouldn't have come here." She stepped back again, "What the hell are you doing here anyway? How did you find me?" 

"Never mind how I found you. Just answer my question," he said in frustration, "Why did you leave and not tell me?" 

"Because I needed the time away," she told him without batting an eyelash, "from things. The job. The caseload...and you...just for a little while. I just wanted to be able to think." 

"Think about what?" he asked confused. 

"To think about whether or not I want to continue working for the FBI or not," she stated. 

He wasn't shocked by this revelation but he was more than a little surprised by it. He sighed. He had heard this tune before; he smiled at her gently. "Well, couldn't you have at least told me about this before you left?" he managed calmly. "I really didn't feel that it was any of your business to justify my decision. I also didn't feel you really needed to know," she said, with the coolness of an open freezer. 

Like a punch to his stomach, Mulder felt the chill of her words and blanched at her. "None of my business," he repeated flatly, "None of my business? Scully, we've worked together for almost ten years and you didn't think that telling me you wanted to leave the Bureau was any of my business?" 

"That's right," she jibed right back at him. 

He shook his head at her. "I can't believe you would feel that way. What makes you think I shouldn't be told that my partner was interested in leaving? I would think I have every right to know," he said as evenly as he could without raising his voice. 

She snorted out a laugh at him and said: "Mulder, it may surprise you to know this, but the world does not revolve around you, the F.B.I., or the X-Files. It also does not mean that all will come to a tragic end if I'm not your partner anymore." 

Mulder felt chilled to his very soul. "Why are you acting like this?" 

"Why are you being such a baby?" she shot back at him. 

"And just how exactly am I being a baby?" 

"How are you being a baby, Mulder?" She squared her shoulders, looked him in the eye and said: "How many times a day did you telephone my mother to ask if she had heard from me? How many times? Do you have any idea how crazy she thinks you are? She thinks you need professional help. And quite frankly, I think you do too. You have no idea how much of a fool you painted yourself to be and I cannot understand for the life of me what it is that made you look for me when I made it quite clear I didn't want to be found." 

She continued on as he stood there speechless. "I lost my baby. I lost you. I had to suffer through the two worst events in my life alone. ALONE, Mulder. I had NO one to help me. No one at all to talk to about this and you seem to have this ridiculous notion swimming around in your head that I have to okay everything I do in my life with you. How dare you! How dare you treat me as if I was your goddamned possession!" 

Mulder was taken aback in shock as she kept on with her tirade and her voice rising in anger a little more as she continued to speak. 

"Mulder, you need to leave. You need to just leave and go back to Washington. I can't deal with all of this and you at the same time." 

Mulder's mouth dropped open then shut just as quickly. "I...I'm sorry... I didn't think..." 

"You're right about that, Mulder, you didn't think." She continued to blast at him. "You NEVER think about things as thoroughly as you should! You just go blindly along stumbling after whatever strikes you as important and never once think that you could very well crash and burn at the same time." 

He glanced down and kicked at the ground sheepishly. Scully shook her head at him. 

"Look, you have to talk to me about this sometime...I mean," Mulder swallowed hard. "I want to know why didn't you tell me what was going on...with the baby...and..." 

"I CAN'T talk about it, okay?" 

There was an uncomfortable silence before she spoke again. "I want you to go now." 

"Scully, I don't want to leave... " he said pitifully. 

"Mulder, will you just LEAVE. PLEASE??" she said tiredly and turned away from him. Walking up the steps of the house's large deck she could feel the tears beginning to well up and she fought to hold them back. Her vision blurring, she bit hard at her lip until a slight taste of blood tickled her tongue. She quickened her pace across the porch and reached for the knob on the French doors. 

_I will not cry. I will NOT cry!_

"Fine," he jabbed at her one final time as he stopped on the last top step of the stairs, "But I think you're the most selfish, self-centered bitch I've ever met. It was my baby too, you know!" 

That did it. 

Turning back, she marched over to where he stood. He saw her mouth was set in a small tight line. With all the rage and hurt boiling within her, she pulled back and slapped him squarely across his left cheek. The sound of her hand contacting with his face made a loud cracking noise that reverberated off the side of the house. His head whipped to the side from the force of the blow. 

As Mulder felt the stinging heat of her handprint begin to rise against the side of his cheek, she seethed venomously at him. "GET OUT!" 

He stared back at her and slowly brought his hand up to the burning sensation on his face. 

"Go!" she said. Her eyes burned into him, burned him down to his very soul like two bright blue flaming stars. 

They stood facing each other silently for a long moment before he spoke. "Fine, I'm out of here," he murmured at her in defeat. She didn't move from her spot as she watched him retreat back to his car. 

He paused once more to look at her and then shouted to her above the crashing waves: "But I want you to know something..." his voice caught slightly, "I love you, Scully. I always have. I'll be at the Best Western Oceanfront waiting when you can make up your mind and feel like talking to me." 

"I won't change my mind." She said defiantly and swallowed back more tears. 

His shoulders wilted slightly at her parting shot and he got into his car. With a final heart-wrenching glance at her, standing straight and stubborn at the head of the porch stairs, Mulder started the car, put it in gear and peeled out of the driveway in a cloud of sand and grit. She watched him as he left, watched until he disappeared from her view. 

It wasn't until the dust had finally settled that she realized exactly what had just happened between them. Scully put a hand to her mouth in horror. Her lip began to tremble and then the tears came. The flood was fierce and she howled her pain long and loud, collapsing into a heap at the head of the stairs. He had NEVER spoken to her like that before and she had never spoken like that to HIM. She knew in her heart it was just out of his frustration with her. But it still didn't justify him calling her a bitch. She played back the whole scene in her mind. 

The look of shock on his face at what she had done and the ferocity with which she had spoken her words to him as cruel and unforgiving as they had been, who the hell did he think he was, talking to her like some irresponsible child? She didn't owe him anything, how could he even remotely comprehend what she was feeling? It didn't help having him hover over her like a clinging paranoid child. Just how exactly was she supposed to tell him anything, let alone answer all his painful questions when he was unwilling to listen to what she had to say? 

He could never even begin to know the heartbreak she felt over the loss of her child; the sweet baby that she had prayed for and wanted for so long. How on earth could he ever understand even if she tried to explain it to him? He hadn't been there to see and hear the awful things people had said about her behind her back. He hadn't been there when she had buried their son in the cold, unforgiving earth. He hadn't been there when she needed him the most. He had abandoned her and that's what angered her the most. He should have been there with her, for her, and he hadn't been. 

Though his abduction hadn't been his fault, it just seemed that it was another case of work interfering in everything and that no matter what she said or did, the X-Files would always be a part of her life no matter if she worked with him or not. 

She regretted not having had at least some time to prepare for this confrontation with him. She had so desperately needed the time to steel herself for this emotional roller-coaster ride. Finding a nice, neutral place to talk to him and explain everything was just a part of it all. But his unexpected arrival had thrown her. How quickly plans change from the way you hoped they'd actually go. Thinking back to her last conversation with Michaela, Scully was wishing now her friend hadn't left after all. She could have used Michaela's strength and quick wit to help her deal with this latest drama. 

But Scully had seen how deeply the betrayal in his eyes ran and the scars that it had left behind. Her harsh words to him had cut deeply, and now her pain had helped to mire them down into a quicksand mix of regret and sorrow which they were both now sucked into up to their necks. But that realization still hadn't excused her for slapping him and she acknowledged to herself that in spite of everything that had been said and done between them, she was in the wrong. The guilt quickly washed over her. 

Dear God! She had actually hit him! 

Ashamed of her action, she comprehended how her leaving without a word of warning to him had been more than Mulder could bear. But it was too late to take it all back and all she could do was continue to weep in her pain for the sorrow she knew she had unnecessarily caused them both. 

For all of the hurt she had caused him and for the hurt she felt now, she wept. Mulder had been right about one thing; she had been selfish as well as cruel. He hadn't deserved her wrath or her blame. She realized that subconsciously she had actually blamed him for leaving her alone to suffer through the loss of their child. In order to justify her own pain, she had pushed it all onto Mulder so that she wouldn't have to deal with it alone. 

Scully picked herself up off the deck and went into the house. She searched for her cell phone, found it and quickly dialed the number of Mulder's hotel room. 

* * *

Mulder stormed into his room with a vicious slamming of his door, and immediately kicked the nearest object his foot found. With a loud "thunk" the plastic garbage container hit the wall as Mulder dropped kicked it across the room where it bounced off of the wall. 

"BITCH!" he roared. He huffed around the room, hands on hips and running his fingers through his hair. He couldn't believe how she had acted towards him nor could he believe that she had struck him. 

"GODDAMMIT!" he roared out again, kicking the can once more and this time sending it sailing into the air only to have it land on the side table where it knocked the phone to the floor with a broken ringing sound. He didn't stop kicking the garbage can until the guest in the adjoining room pounded on the wall to get him to quiet down. Some muffled words of consternation from his neighbor and Mulder finally stopped. He didn't need to be thrown out of the hotel. 

Calming down wasn't easy but he managed to at least sit on the bed to keep from destroying anything else in the room. With an exhausted exhale he ran his fingers through his hair once more. 

What now? 

She had blatantly refused to confide in him and now that she had essentially thrown him off her porch, would she ever talk to him at all? 

The whole scenario had played out like a bad dream and as he repeated the event in his mind, he knew that he had handled everything with a poor sense of judgment. How could he be so stupid? And why did he taunt her like that and call her a bitch? She was far from being that! Scully had put up with more nonsense from him over the years than she should have and he was ashamed to admit that he had treated her in a way he never thought he would. He was the only one selfish and self-centered, not her. He hung his head. 

"God, Scully, I am so sorry," he moaned. He knew in his heart that he had hurt the one person who meant more to him than anything else in the world. Remembering her defiance to him as she told him to leave, he felt like he would never be able to make up to her for calling her a bitch. He couldn't go back in time and erase the foul name and that made him feel even worse. No matter how many times he said he was sorry, it would never change the damage that had been done. 

He sat there for a long time musing over everything and feeling the guilt and hopelessness weighing heavy upon his shoulders. He was truly the sorriest son of a bitch that ever walked the face of the earth. 

The shadows of the day had changed before Mulder finally looked up at the darkness creeping forth and sighed. 

`I need a drink' he thought and headed for the door. 

With a final slam to his neighbor, Mulder left his room in disarray and headed down the street to the one place he knew he would find a small amount of solace and perhaps a sympathetic ear or two. 

A few minutes later as he stepped inside the restaurant, his eyes searched the crowd for a familiar face. The hostess came over and asked how many were in his party. Mulder almost laughed out loud but told her he would be sitting at the bar tonight. Nodding, she moved off into the crowd to take care of the other customers. 

Taking a seat at the bar, Mulder motioned to Frank, the bartender, who sidled over to him. "A beer, please?" Mulder asked politely. 

"What kind?" Frank asked tartly. 

"The hardest stuff you've got." Mulder said as he dug in his back pocket for his wallet. Frank moved off towards the tap. 

While he waited for his beer, Mulder glanced around still searching for a familiar face. He spied Karen, the young raven-haired waitress he had questioned about Scully when he first arrived. She was busy serving a table their order. He watched her as she joked and laughed with her customers and he noted how pretty she was with her dark hair and eyes. 

He turned back to the bar and took a sip of the beer that Frank had quietly set down. 

MOLLIE'S was busy. Mulder glanced around at the different faces before he grew bored and looked over towards the television mounted in the corner above the beer taps. A Knicks game was playing and he became engrossed for a short time. Mulder's mind focused on the game and his beer and let his argument with Scully melt away for a while. 

A few hours and several beers later, Mulder was startled out of his concentration on the game by a soft touch to his left shoulder. He jumped a bit in his seat and turned to see the petite blonde waitress he had met his first night, but he couldn't recall her name. Paula, was it? He couldn't remember. She was dressed casually in a denim skirt and crisp white blouse cropped short with smocking across the bodice. 

"Hey, sweet thing!" she cooed at him and flashed a flirtatious smile. 

"Hey yourself. Paula, is it?" He answered back as suave as he dared. She nodded and hopped up on the barstool next to him and crossed her shapely legs. 

"Are you working tonight?" he asked, trying to make polite conversation. 

"No, I just came to hang out and watch the game with old Frank over there." She said, pointing her finger at the burly bartender. Frank was so engrossed in the game he didn't even pay attention to her or to Mulder who was glancing down at his empty beer mug. 

"Hey, Frank, we're a little dry over here?" Paula called out to him. Frank scowled back at her interruption but got two beers and then went back to watch the remainder of the game. 

"So, where's your lady friend? You did find her, didn't you?" Paula asked him curiously. Mulder cringed openly. 

"Yeah, I found her," he murmured. Paula frowned for the first time since she sat down beside him. 

"I take it she wasn't all that happy to see you," Paula said solemnly. Mulder shook his head sadly. 

"Not really," he said and took a sip of his beer. 

Paula laid a sympathetic hand on his knee. "I'm sorry, darlin'. That sucks." 

"Yeah, well, life sucks." Mulder mused bitterly and took another swig of his beer. 

They sat in silence for a few moments, sipping their drinks until Paula slid off the barstool and grabbed his hand. 

"C'mon, let's get out of here," she said with a smile. 

"Nah, I don't really feel like it," Mulder protested. She tugged at him gently. 

"C'mon, you look like you could use some air anyway," she said sweetly. 

"Maybe another beer," Mulder joked as he stood up a little wobbly. 

"Whatever you say," Paula agreed and went behind the bar to grab a six-pack out of the cooler. 

Frank saw her and protested. "You know I don't like it when you girls help yourselves," he grumbled at her. She walked over to him, kissed his cheek and tucked some money into his shirt pocket. 

"I love you, too, Frank," she teased and bounced back over to Mulder with the six-pack in her hand. With her other hand she tucked it under Mulder's arm and led him towards the door. 

"Where are we going?" he asked cautiously. 

"You'll just have to wait and see," she said to him coyly and quickly kissed him on the cheek. 

No one but his mother and Scully had kissed him in a very long time so it took Mulder completely off-guard. Although it had shocked him a little, he found that he quite liked the sensation and actually missed this small show of affection. He smiled at her and kissed her back. She clearly glowed from his action and led him to her car. 

"Hop in," she said. 

They drove around for a while before finding a spot off the highway and right beside the beach...a small rest area with picnic tables and restrooms, not the most romantic place but at least it was better than nothing. 

Paula parked the car and got out. Mulder slowly withdrew from the vehicle with a dizzying sensation but was still able to stand upright on both legs. He looked around for a moment since he didn't see which direction Paula had gone and was startled when he heard the car's trunk slam shut. She came around to his side of the car carrying the six-pack and a bunched up blanket. Mulder felt a shiver run down his spine since he knew what a blanket could lead to and he wasn't sure he wanted anything to lead in that particular direction. 

Seeing his face change, Paula frowned and asked, "What's wrong?" 

With his hands jammed into his jeans pockets, Mulder answered quietly. "I don't know if this is such a good idea," he said. Paula cocked her head to the side and studied him for a moment. 

"We don't have to do anything but drink beer and listen to the waves. No harm in doing that, is there?" she asked. Mulder shook his head. 

She led him down to the beach, handed him the six-pack and spread the blanket out on the sand. She dropped to her knees on it and motioned him to sit beside her. Mulder did as he was expected and she took a beer and opened it. Taking a long, slow swig, she relished the taste and smacked her lips at him when she was done taking the swallow. Mulder watched her thoroughly entranced by the way she drank and thought how Scully would never drink a beer like that. The way Paula did it made it seem almost sensual in a way and Mulder found that it turned him on to watch her. 

"You want this?" Paula asked. Mulder was shocked by her direct question and didn't answer quickly enough. 

"A beer, do you want one?" she asked again. Mulder blew out the breath he'd been holding and took the bottle from her gratefully. 

"Thanks," he said shyly. 

"So, you wanna tell me what happened with your lady friend or not?" she asked him, almost making him choke on the beer. 

"You sure are direct, aren't you?" he stated matter of fact. 

"I guess you could say that," she smiled again sweetly. 

"No, I really don't want to discuss her," Mulder said politely. 

"Okay," Paula said. Pausing for a moment to take another sip of her beer she then blurted out, "So, then do you wanna make love to me?" 

This time Mulder really did choke on his beer and coughed hard enough to bring up a lung. "Christ! Where did that come from? We don't even know each other!" he protested once he caught his breath again. 

"And your point is?" she said, mildly irritated. 

"Is that why you brought me here?" he asked her. 

"No, but I was hoping maybe we'd end up somewhere doing it in a nice soft bed. But I can do it anywhere actually," she said bluntly. 

Mulder shook his head in disbelief. She was definitely NOT like Scully. Paula may have been the same height and build as Scully but her mannerisms and long blonde hair were about as anti-Scully as could be. But sitting there drinking beer and taking in her hardened nipples poking out from behind her blouse and noticing that she wasn't wearing a bra at all, Mulder was getting turned on. Paula was tanned and seemed healthy-looking with her shapely legs and toned arms and her flawless skin and... 

"Besides," she continued, "I like you. You're good-looking and sexy and I've wanted to fuck you since the day you walked into the restaurant." 

She reached over and caressed his thigh all the way up to his hip. 

"Anything wrong with that?" she purred at him. 

Mulder, speechless at this point, shook his head and polished off the beer in his hand and tossed the empty bottle aside. Reaching for her he grabbed a handful of her blonde tresses and pressed his lips to hers. She let him willingly and they fell to the blanket tangling themselves up with arms and legs and lips and fingers. 

Mulder was hungry, hungry for sex, and although he knew all the beer he'd drank might be impairing his judgment now and his performance later, he didn't care. He had a woman in his arms willing to satisfy his every need at that moment and he decide it would be better to accept the offer now before it was rescinded later. After all, when would he ever have a chance like this again? Scully sure as hell wasn't there to oblige him so he'd take what he could get now. 

Paula's hand found its way down to the button of his fly and was trying to undo it to free his hard-on from behind the denim fabric. He grabbed her hand and led it away from there. "Not here," he whispered in her ear, "I have a hotel room with a nice soft bed that you were interested in." 

"Tell me where," she whispered back to him. He told her the name and she knew exactly where it was. 

"I know that place very well," she said and Mulder didn't doubt her. 

They grabbed up the remaining six-pack and the blanket and headed for the car. Paula threw everything into the backseat and they climbed in. 

Twenty minutes later they were in Mulder's room. They stood in the middle of the room, lips locked together as his hands roamed across her breasts and down to cup her under her ass. She ran her hand up and down across the front of his blue jeans, feeling his cock swell and pulsate. 

"I think I'll take a shower and wash off all this sand," Paula purred to him and slowly with drew from their embrace. She turned her back and walked towards the bathroom, discarding her clothes along the way. Mulder noticed how very little she wore and it turned him on even more knowing that she had been dressed so scantily. The denim skirt and cotton blouse were only two of the three items of clothing she had had on. A bright pink thong was the only other thing she wore and that slipped off as quickly as the skirt and blouse. 

When she stood there in all her glory, Mulder quickly ditched his own clothes and followed her into the bathroom like a willing slave. She turned on the showerhead and adjusted the water temperature before stepping into the tub. Mulder followed. 

He watched her step under the spray and rinse herself off. Particles of sand slipped slowly down the drain. When she turned around to face him, he noticed her tan lines and the neatly trimmed hair of her pubis. It was shaped into what looked like a butterfly. Mulder felt a wave of lustful desire wash over him. Scully never trimmed her pubic hair like that! Not that she ever would. 

With a smile Paula reached for Mulder's hard cock and in one swift movement she was on her knees and wrapping her mouth around its throbbing head. Mulder sucked in a breath and quickly grabbed at the tub's hand railing for support. Her mouth devouring his cock had almost knocked him completely off his feet and the water pelting him rained down on her lips making them and his cock wetter. The movement of her tongue across the nipped foreskin had caught him completely off-guard but he leaned back against the wall and allowed her to have her way with him. 

She teased and licked and tickled his cock and balls, almost bringing him to the brink of orgasm before she pulled away from him. "Let's get of here and go to the bed where there's more room," she purred. Mulder didn't argue nor did he protest. He shut the water off and stepped out of the tub. They padded barefoot out of the bathroom not bothering to towel off, and climbed onto the bed to finish their foreplay. 

Mulder and Paula made love long into the night and her orgasms surpassed his in intensity and frequency. He didn't care much for trying to keep up with her and she didn't make him keep up with her. It wasn't until Mulder fell beside her, exhausted, that she curled up in the crook of his arm and fell asleep. Mulder had no idea when he passed out nor did he care. He just knew that he hadn't been fucked like that in a long time and he felt satisfied knowing that he wouldn't need to be fucked like that for quite some time to come. 

* * *

When Scully woke up that morning, she knew what she had to do. 

Forgoing breakfast and only grabbing a quick shower, she dressed in jeans and a sweatshirt and was out the door. She jumped into her car and headed into town. 

She hoped Mulder would be up by now. She didn't think he would have gotten much sleep after their heated argument yesterday. Lord knew she'd barely slept at all. She'd tried to call him several times but hadn't been able to reach him, either at the room or on his cell phone. 

She had lain in bed, tossing and turning until the wee hours and even when she had closed her eyes she had only managed to doze off for a brief time. Her guilt and shame had kept her awake and that was the trouble. 

Although the sun had been up for a couple of hours, the streets were quiet with only a few cars here and there passing her by. She drove straight to the Best Western Oceanfront, parked and went straight to the office. The desk manager was an older gentleman who looked as though he'd seen it all. Life was etched heavily into his brow and he glared at her skeptically as she asked him for Mulder's room key and why. She planned on slipping the man a twenty-dollar bill if he still refused even after she showed him her FBI badge, but surprisingly he handed her the spare key without argument. She thanked him with a smile and headed towards Mulder's room. 

She didn't know what she'd say to him at first but she knew the words would come. If only he allowed her to talk first and not say anything until she got it all out. Then he could ask all the questions he wanted. Standing in front of the door, Scully's hand shook nervously as she slipped the key into the lock. Turning the handle, she quietly opened the door and peeked inside. 

From the looks of it, Mulder was still in bed. Upon closer inspection she quickly realized that he was not only still in bed but that he was also not alone. 

Scully stood frozen in place as she stared at Mulder's arm draped across the hip of a blonde woman who was facing the wall. Mulder was on his back snoring and oblivious to Scully's presence. 

Tears welled in her eyes as she stared at the two bodies laying together entangled within the sheets. Her heart fell and she felt her knees turn to jelly. 

"Oh my God, Mulder, why?" she whispered and put a hand to her mouth to silence the sob threatening to escape her. 

_END_ (part 4) 

* * *

Ya'll are gonna hate me, I'm sure, but I do promise a happy ending. Just not yet! I want to angst you out a little more. 

FEEDBACK welcome!  
stilldevout2David at YAHOO.com   
  


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